Repainting the boat's bottom

Once stripped of old antifouling (which I think is the first time since she was built since the thickness and weight of paint was staggering), three coats of underwater primer (International Primocon) were applied to the timber, the first coat thinned by about 10%.  She was lightly sanded between coats and one or two fastening heads were filled and faired.  To my great relief, despite the boat's age, the bottom planking is in great condition, no damage, splits or shakes and all the fastenings look good and tight. Painting the bottom of a clinker hull lying on one's back is quite fiddly, making sure that the plank edges all get painted. I see the GRP yachts being roller-painted in a few minutes but I used a 2" brush and took my time to get a nice smooth finish.
Once the timber was primed I chipped and de-rusted the ballast keel (iron) and bilge keels (steel plate) to the best of my ability.  I would dearly like to have the bilge keels properly grit-blasted and then galvanised - as they possibly were when new - or have new ones fabricated since these are now getting quite deeply pitted in places. However, for now the iron and steel was given two coats of zinc-rich primer and then a coat of Primocon. There is a zinc button anode on each side of each keel, through-bolted. I fitted new ones this season since the previous ones were pretty much exhausted after five years part-time immersion.
I applied two coats of 'Cruiser' antifouling.  It states on the tin that one coat should last all season but examining the small print reveals that when antifouling from scratch i.e. not recoating, then two coats must be applied.  One 2.5l can was enough to give the hull two-coats and the rudder also.
The boot-top was then masked off and two coats of hard antifoul applied (International Trilux)


Primer - three coats applied over a few weeks as other works were being carried out

First coat of antifouling paint

Antifouling completed, boot-top applied and anodes fitted to bilge keels.
The bottom of the boat will never look better.



Bottom paint preparation

After numerous sessions of stripping off the old antifoul back to bare wood, including taking the boot-top off. I found that the topsides paint overlapped under the boot-top and that the builder had actually scribed a waterline in - although completely buried in the paint.
I left the areas nearest the waterline till last especially near the bows that got the afternoon sun since I was concerned that she would dry too much and open up.

Stripping the old bottom paint - she was carrying a huge weight of paint

On some of my stripping sessions the weather was so damp that there were was salty water dripping from the planking. The bottom was sanded and looked so good that I considered giving her bottom a varnish finish! - Only joking!



Bottom sanded ready for primer.

The weather was dry in late February, early March so I started to get some primer on, thinning the first coat with about 10%. International Primocon was used.




Primer going on the areas that were already bare.